When I was enjoying the Queen’s hospitality I encountered a small number of these petty tyrants. Within the confines of the institution they had a uniform, status and power. Outside the walls they were individuals of no consequence making do as best they could on a median civil servants salary.
The less relevant to humanity they were outside the more authoritarian they became inside.
These were the minority. Most people who find themselves with power use it judiciously and in a manner that they would like to be treated; but not all.
Faced with such mendacious authoritarians most comply; concluding that the cost of dissent disproportionate. Former Real Estate agent and classically obstreperous woman Janet Dickson chose not to acquiesce and has paid the inevitable price.
The less relevant to humanity they were outside the more authoritarian they became inside.
These were the minority. Most people who find themselves with power use it judiciously and in a manner that they would like to be treated; but not all.
Faced with such mendacious authoritarians most comply; concluding that the cost of dissent disproportionate. Former Real Estate agent and classically obstreperous woman Janet Dickson chose not to acquiesce and has paid the inevitable price.
Real estate agent Janet Dickson is facing a five year ban for refusing to do a 90-minute online cultural course. Hobson's Pledge
What was her crime?
It isn’t clear why we regulate real estate agents. Like insolvency practitioners, airport security staff and email marketers, real estate hawkers is a profession whose contribution to the collective is so difficult to quantity one suspects that if they disappeared in the Rapture we’d not replace them.
Perhaps it is because they are so inconsequential that they guard the boundaries of their guild with such ferocity. Incomprehensibly there are 15,557 individuals with an active license to show you a house someone else is wanting to sell.
It seems an industry destined to be eviscerated by artificial intelligence but for the moment they remain; their shining faces and photoshopped teeth gleaming from placards across these islands.
And good on them. We all should play to our strengths.
Real estate agents are regulated by legislation administered by the Real Estate Agents Authority. This organisation has delegated authority from parliament to set the rules that agents must comply with and are gate keepers to who can be admitted, and who should be expelled, from the register of licensed agents.
Common with such professional outfits is a requirement for CPD; Continuing Professional Development. These are tedious obligations that maintain the fiction that we are keeping up to date with developments in our respective fields. Mostly we sign up for a conference where we sit and look at our phones for two days and claim enough hours to satisfy the annual quotient.
The Authority determined that agents needed to spend 90 minutes feigning attention while someone talked to them about the treaty, tikanga, and the appropriate use of pronouns. You might wonder why this was necessary. The authority itself found Māori reported feeling more empowered that pakeha in their engagement with the sector but there remained serious issues that needed to be addressed:
“… We discussed examples of Māori buyers who had raised concerns about the failure of licensees to respect tikanga, such as sitting on a kitchen bench where food is prepared or allowing hats to be placed on tables.”
Really. The Real Estate Authority pays people to think about these sorts of problem and design courses to fix them. I mean. Why would a real estate agent sit on a kitchen bench, and who other than Shane Jones wears a hat indoors?
Still. The lack of a problem is no barrier to the bureaucrat determined to impose authority on a situation that does not warrant their intervention; and the 90-minute course, Te Kakano (the seed, Google tells me), was mandatory. If you didn’t take it; you’d be expelled from the profession.
It seems that 15,556 agents registered for their 90 minutes and politely nodded along. One did not. Janet Dickson.
She had her reasons and under the legislation the Authority could have granted her request to be excused had they found “exceptional circumstances”. This a little wooly but clearly Janet Dickson is exceptional and the test is subjective. The Authority could have just acquiesced and let the issue slide.
They didn’t. Dickson challenged that decision and has lost. Her real estate career will presumably come to an end and the management of the Authority can congratulate themselves for destroying a woman’s career to ensure no one would ever suffer the emotional harm of seeing a hat on a table.
There is no evidence Dickson is dishonest, disrespectful, or in any way a discredit to her profession. This process has shown her to be an individual of outstanding moral courage willing to lose her profession over an issue of principle; something a large number of her colleagues were unwilling to do.
The Authority’s statutory remit is to promote and protect the interests of real estate consumers and to promote public confidence in the performance of their work. This exercise has damaged the mana of both the profession and the Authority itself......The full article is published HERE
Damien Grant is an Auckland business owner, a member of the Taxpayers’ Union and a regular opinion contributor for Stuff, writing from a libertarian perspective
What was her crime?
It isn’t clear why we regulate real estate agents. Like insolvency practitioners, airport security staff and email marketers, real estate hawkers is a profession whose contribution to the collective is so difficult to quantity one suspects that if they disappeared in the Rapture we’d not replace them.
Perhaps it is because they are so inconsequential that they guard the boundaries of their guild with such ferocity. Incomprehensibly there are 15,557 individuals with an active license to show you a house someone else is wanting to sell.
It seems an industry destined to be eviscerated by artificial intelligence but for the moment they remain; their shining faces and photoshopped teeth gleaming from placards across these islands.
And good on them. We all should play to our strengths.
Real estate agents are regulated by legislation administered by the Real Estate Agents Authority. This organisation has delegated authority from parliament to set the rules that agents must comply with and are gate keepers to who can be admitted, and who should be expelled, from the register of licensed agents.
Common with such professional outfits is a requirement for CPD; Continuing Professional Development. These are tedious obligations that maintain the fiction that we are keeping up to date with developments in our respective fields. Mostly we sign up for a conference where we sit and look at our phones for two days and claim enough hours to satisfy the annual quotient.
The Authority determined that agents needed to spend 90 minutes feigning attention while someone talked to them about the treaty, tikanga, and the appropriate use of pronouns. You might wonder why this was necessary. The authority itself found Māori reported feeling more empowered that pakeha in their engagement with the sector but there remained serious issues that needed to be addressed:
“… We discussed examples of Māori buyers who had raised concerns about the failure of licensees to respect tikanga, such as sitting on a kitchen bench where food is prepared or allowing hats to be placed on tables.”
Really. The Real Estate Authority pays people to think about these sorts of problem and design courses to fix them. I mean. Why would a real estate agent sit on a kitchen bench, and who other than Shane Jones wears a hat indoors?
Still. The lack of a problem is no barrier to the bureaucrat determined to impose authority on a situation that does not warrant their intervention; and the 90-minute course, Te Kakano (the seed, Google tells me), was mandatory. If you didn’t take it; you’d be expelled from the profession.
It seems that 15,556 agents registered for their 90 minutes and politely nodded along. One did not. Janet Dickson.
She had her reasons and under the legislation the Authority could have granted her request to be excused had they found “exceptional circumstances”. This a little wooly but clearly Janet Dickson is exceptional and the test is subjective. The Authority could have just acquiesced and let the issue slide.
They didn’t. Dickson challenged that decision and has lost. Her real estate career will presumably come to an end and the management of the Authority can congratulate themselves for destroying a woman’s career to ensure no one would ever suffer the emotional harm of seeing a hat on a table.
There is no evidence Dickson is dishonest, disrespectful, or in any way a discredit to her profession. This process has shown her to be an individual of outstanding moral courage willing to lose her profession over an issue of principle; something a large number of her colleagues were unwilling to do.
The Authority’s statutory remit is to promote and protect the interests of real estate consumers and to promote public confidence in the performance of their work. This exercise has damaged the mana of both the profession and the Authority itself......The full article is published HERE
Damien Grant is an Auckland business owner, a member of the Taxpayers’ Union and a regular opinion contributor for Stuff, writing from a libertarian perspective
7 comments:
That is the pattern - dare to question or defy and one is cancelled.
We have a whole Parliament afraid to challenge Maori - with one of two exceptions. A disastrous outcome can be expected.
How much did the course cost? And who are the fees paid to? Captive and sure funding for the Maori gravy train. I understand Janet already had extensive professional engagement with tikanga in a previous teaching position. Surely that was grounds for an exemption but she may not have known about the hat on the table I suppose. Honestly, we are the laughing stock of the world.
MC
Never had any respect for real estate agents, and the lack of skills, apart from extracting inordinate amounts of commissions from the seller, while all the time "working " on behalf of the buyer.
It's the same for the REAA, who close ranks with any complaints about agents.
Just s couple of points: They're is one other that routinely wears a hat indoors and that buffoon totally disrespects the House of Parliament. And, as for hats and tables - show me one that was manufactured by a Maori before colonisation?
Oh yes - farcical !
Great article Damien. No one cares about Māori protocol etc. It’s fantasy stuff, mostly bullshit and quickly forgotten and as they say, consigned quickly to the waste paper basket.
Labour and, to a lesser extent, National got us into this turmoil and neither of them, plus the gormless greens and racist tea party maoris can get us out of it. Partnerships and principles are modern day inventions. Shakespeare would have a field day about this, Much Ado About Sweet Turkey All!
Kevan
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